50 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



Snail-like Case of Cochlophora. 



The " basket-worm '' that constructs this portable house "uses silk 

 only, but finishes it so that it resembles the texture of a snail shell. 

 There are specimens in the British Museum that were received from 

 a collector as the shells of actual snails. 



grass psyche. 1 The male moth is a 

 dehcate httle Insect with slender body, 

 and the wings almost transparent, for 

 they have only a few brown and grey 

 scales and hairs upon them ; but it 

 has rather large, feathery antennae. 

 The female, however, is such an odd 

 little creature that anyone unacquainted 

 with the facts would be indisposed to 

 accept her for a moth : she is much 

 more like a chrysalis with the head and 

 legs free. She has the merest little 

 stumps for antennae, but no wings and 

 no mouth. In the spring and earlv 



summer the caterpillars may be seen dragging their portable houses over the herbage. 



These dwellings are in this species nearly an inch long, and composed of a silken tube 



to which are attached pieces of grass, etc., overlapping after the manner of thatch 



on a roof. The caterpillar clings to the lining by its hinder parts, and only puts 



out its head and legs for the purpose of moving to fresh food and consuming it. 



\\'hen it desires to be quiet, it spins a few threads, which moor the front of the house 



to M'hatever it is on. The one case — -enlarged from time to time — serves for their 



full life as caterpillar and chrysalis, 



and for the female to the end of 



life. She is an example of rever- 

 sion to a simpler condition after 



she has attained to her final stage 



of development, for, as already 



stated, she has neither wings nor 



mouth. In some species the females 



have no legs ; in others the head is 



so reduced that the creature looks 



more like the grub of one of the 



two-winged flies. It is true that 



she has attained to sexual ripeness, 



and mating is effected without her 



leaving her house. There she lays 



her eggs in a mass, often in the 



empty chrysalis skin. It has been 



said that the newly-hatched cater- 

 pillars make their first meal off 



their mother's body — such as there 



is ©f it — but this requires verifica- Psyche-.Moth. 



J.: jr J.1 „ 1 ' A f 4-1, ■ The caterpillar constructs a tube of silk to which are attached bits of grass 



lion. 11 meV aie aepilVea OI tnen' and leaves, the whole resembling some of the caddis cases. In this the 



^acoc -f-Vio^r -vxnll nr\r\ f - ^f +V> caterpillar lives protected, for it only protrudes the front end of its body in 



CdSCS, incy Wni COnSirUCl anOtner order to drag the case to a new feeding ground, where it is temporarily naoored 



;^ +'U^ ,N^,,,.-^ ^f ^ C 1 by a few silk threads. The moth shown is the male • the female is wingless, 



in the COUlse of a tew days. and does not leave the case. 



-vVtgS-^ 



Pachytclia nnicolor 



